How to help us build open source Pebble software • Hacker News Board

Re: How to help us build open source Pebble software

#31

Post by mikepurvis » Fri, Feb 07, 2025, 5:15 PM UTC

illwrks wrote: post #29

mikepurvis wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From an implementation point of view, I'm not sure how this could work unless the new Pebble either has wifi (not out of the question) or there's a mechanism to pair multiple of them to a single phone and clearly mark out which are kid-devices vs primary. As a parent, I totally get you though. Ultimately kids should learn to pay attention and stay on task without the crutch of a digital nag, but it sure would be usef…

I wonder is Apples AirTag networks could be utilised to send data, that would remove any need to have a data/wifi connection and it would also have an inbuilt way to keep tabs on a young child. And for most parents a short message is all that’s needed to send “Running 5 mins late, see you soon” etc.

That's a fascinating thought, since obviously it is bidirectional + there's already the ability to send a small custom payload when an object is marked lost.

If I was Apple I'd be extremely cautious about opening that up, though. Not everyone would be excited about the idea of their data plans and bluetooth bandwidth being used up to enable a free texting plan for every kid within twenty meters.

Think of how that would play out at elementary schools, with hundreds of students piggy backing off a handful of teachers' iPhones.

Re: How to help us build open source Pebble software

#32

Post by enragedcacti » Fri, Feb 07, 2025, 5:28 PM UTC

resource_waste wrote: post #18

Can someone explain if they are asking for free labor? Or this actually moves the world forward? I don't know if the hardware or any layer is patented. Could I remake the watch, send over the software/firmware, and sell the watches legally?

It seems like their goal is to have a fully featured open source ecosystem that Core Devices (Eric's new company) builds hardware for. I don't think he's made any commitment on open source HW but you could sell your own pebbleOS devices if you wanted to (with maybe some effort required for radios or sensors that they can't legally open source code for).

Obviously he stands to benefit from the free labor, but the only reason the project makes any sense to start with is because of how many passionate hackers have kept the Pebble devices and community going. If they want to dedicate more free effort in exchange for the opportunity to buy hardware built this decade then it feels pretty fair to me.

Re: How to help us build open source Pebble software

#33

Post by jdenning » Fri, Feb 07, 2025, 7:30 PM UTC

I loved my pebble and pebble time, but they really lost my trust with the “Pebble Time 2” kickstarter - it really felt like the kickstarter was just a ploy to enable their sale to Fitbit. Now they are hoping for some free dev work so that they can do it again? Pass.

Edit: Want community trust? Give some guarantee (eg open hardware) that you’re not going to just kill the hardware (again) for another big buyout. I would be more excited about new pebble hardware that did NOT involve the original founder/team.

Re: How to help us build open source Pebble software

#34

Post by illwrks » Fri, Feb 07, 2025, 9:41 PM UTC

mikepurvis wrote: post #31

illwrks wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder is Apples AirTag networks could be utilised to send data, that would remove any need to have a data/wifi connection and it would also have an inbuilt way to keep tabs on a young child. And for most parents a short message is all that’s needed to send “Running 5 mins late, see you soon” etc.

That's a fascinating thought, since obviously it is bidirectional + there's already the ability to send a small custom payload when an object is marked lost. If I was Apple I'd be extremely cautious about opening that up, though. Not everyone would be excited about the idea of their data plans and bluetooth bandwidth being used up to enable a free texting plan for every kid within twenty meters. Think of how that wou…

In my mind I was thinking it would be a more locked down parent/child relationship. So a parent could send a simple message to a child and child to then have predefined responses, ok/yes/no or perhaps a simple character input limit, whatever fits in the dead space of an AirTag message.

Then by it's nature it would be no more of an issue than a standard airtag ping.

I guess longer term you might have LoRa/meshtastic type networks that would make more sense.

Re: How to help us build open source Pebble software

#35

Post by supuun » Fri, Feb 07, 2025, 9:41 PM UTC

jdenning wrote: post #33

I loved my pebble and pebble time, but they really lost my trust with the “Pebble Time 2” kickstarter - it really felt like the kickstarter was just a ploy to enable their sale to Fitbit. Now they are hoping for some free dev work so that they can do it again? Pass. Edit: Want community trust? Give some guarantee (eg open hardware) that you’re not going to just kill the hardware (again) for another big buyout. I woul…

the OS is the hardest part and they are developing it as open source. my understanding is that anybody can develop hardware for PebbleOs.